Interviews: "Micromasters" series (7/04)

The following were questions sent to Dreamwave regarding their newly released "Micromasters" Transformers comic book series. Both writers Adam Patyk and James McDonough were good enough to answer these questions and BWTF thanks them for their time.

1. Why choose Micromasters to get their own series? They are a rather unconventional choice (but a welcome one).ADAM: "After spending night after night forging personalities and back-stories for the Micromasters, we just got really excited about the prospect of fleshing these characters out and exploring their world, since it was so unlike what's currently out there in terms of Transformers stories."

JAMES: "We really wanted to try something different and explore an avenue of the Transformers mythos that was widely neglected, but we were also looking for something that would give us the opportunity to help explain and define more of the backstory for the new Generation One universe that we are developing for Dreamwave."

2. How will the portrayal of Micromasters in this series differ from what we've seen in the past?JAMES: "To be completely honest I'm not really that familiar with their previous incarnations. However, I do remember Roadhandler being featured rather prominently in a few of the old Marvel books here and there, so I really wanted to make sure that we got him in here and placed him in the sort of light that was reminiscent of his earlier days. But have no fear you won't see our RH doing a Hulk Hogan and busting a leg drop on any Decepticons anytime in here! "

ADAM: "Right.aside from Roadhandler and a few others, most of the main Micromasters in the series have never appeared before in a comic story, so readers will get the chance to meet them and learn about them from the ground up. In terms of the reasoning behind the Micromasters, we're playing up the angle of their energy-efficiency instead of being created for espionage."

3. Any chance of introducing the "Six-Combiner" Micromasters into the storyline?

JAMES: "Be patient, Grasshopper. Thanks to our obsessive/compulsive dedication to detail, we've already mapped out the history of the Micromasters before starting issue #1. If this book is received well enough, you might just get your wish."

ADAM: "Of course, be careful what you wish for.there may be some cameos in the series that don't exactly end well for the characters in question!"

4. What was the most enjoyable part of writing Micromasters?

JAMES: "The freedom. Also, this is the first substantial sequential work that Adam and I worked on together, so the creative process was a lot more fun and infinitely more interesting. It wasn't your typical lock-yourself-in-your-room-and-come-out-with-a-finished-script-type deal. As a matter of fact, it was such a good experience that we've decided to start splitting up all our projects. We both feel that collaboration helps the overall project immensely."

ADAM: "Yeah, working together and bouncing ideas back and forth lets us create stories that feel much more cohesive and real, because both of us examine and comment on the other's ideas until we forge the best possible scenario. It's been a blast to approach Transformers from a punk rock perspective that hasn't been done before. We really wanted to show a more realistic response to the Autobot/Decepticon war coming from the fresh perspective of newer, younger characters. It was good to incorporate a lot of personal feelings and real life experiences that we've all gone through into a Transformers story, to infuse it with a kind of easily identifiable emotion that is sometimes lacking from stories about giant robots pounding the crap out of each other. Of course, it was also really great to get the chance to put many of the of Micromaster personalities and relationships we created for More Than Meets The Eye into story form."

5. What was the most challenging part of writing Micromasters?

JAMES: "There were a few road bumps here and there. I mean, DW wasn't exactly with the entire concept at first and it took a while to get them onboard. There were a lot of other hiccups here and there, but we basically took that frustration and infused it into our story. The stuff that was going down perfectly fit into the whole theme of the series, so MM was very therapeutic in that respect. But it wasn't all negative, I mean, Hasbro was very cool about everything and very hands off considering the grayness that we were trying to infuse into this book. It was a great situation because they let us do our thing without trying to reign us in. It's that level of faith and respect that really makes doing the Transformer titles so enjoyable."

ADAM: "Aside from the trials and tribulations that we were dealing with at the time, the hardest part was putting the characters away sometimes. It just got so fun to do that we didn't want to stop and move onto our other projects!"

6. Do you have a particular favorite Micromaster character?

ADAM: "After spending so much time creating many of these characters' personalities, it is kind of hard to choose.but, come on, how cool is Barricade? He's this volatile, Bobby Knight-esque coach who really wants the best for his team deep down.but doesn't really have the interpersonal skills to relate to them, so he always resorts to violence or threats. Of course, if you asked me this same question tomorrow, I might have a different answer, because all of the characters are turning out to be so much fun to write."

JAMES: "I have to admit that I really dig our version of Roadhandler. As the series progresses fans will really get to see what we're trying to do with him. Then again, Groundshaker is very cool as well. There's a scene in issue three between he and Countdown.well.you just gotta read it."

BWTF would like to thank Adam and James for taking the time to answer these questions. Go pick up your copy of Micromasters today!